NYC Accounts

Each student in a DOE school is assigned a NYC Schools Account, which provides parents with a new way of accessing key information about their child’s progress. With your NYC Schools account, you will be able to view your child's information (grades, test scores and attendance) in one of ten languages on a computer, phone or tablet.

For 4th and 5th grade students, the NYC Account is the only way for you to see your child's 3rd or 4th grade state test results.

In order to set up your account, you will need your child's student ID number and a Creation Code.Student IDs are 9 digit numbers beginning with the number 2 and can be found on your child's report card. Letters will be sent home with the Creation Codes over the next week. (Fourth grade parents received them earlier so they could access last year's test scores.) Letters are only sent to parents who have not yet set up an account.

Kindergarten parents who do not yet know their child's ID can ask their child's teacher or contact the main office after receiving their letters.

If you have more than one child attending a NYC public school, you will receive one letter containing an account creation code for each child. You will only need to enter the student ID and Account Creation Code for one of your children. Once you create an account, you can add your remaining children by entering their student IDs and Account Creation Codes on the “Manage My Account” page. Each Account Creation Code is unique to you and your child and should not be shared with others. 

 Attendance Reminders

1. When your child is going to be absent, you should notify the school by sending an email to attendance@ps166.org and copying your child's teacher. Do not call the nurse or the main office.
2. When your child returns to school after an absence of one or two days, you must send a hard copy note to the teacher, stating the reason.
3. When your child returns to school after an absence of three days or more, you must send a hard copy doctor's note. 
4. When your child is late, there is no need to provide a note unless the lateness is due to a doctor or dentist appointment. In those events, you must bring your child to the main office, sign the late book and turn in the note.  Do not ever bring your child directly to the classroom.
5. If your child is late due to a middle school tour, bring your child to the main office and turn in the middle school letter. Middle school visits are not coded as "late" since the student was at another school. 
6. Please cross check your child's attendance record either on your NYC account or on the report card. Corrections cannot be made once the school year is over. If you think there is an error, notify the school so it can be looked into.

And finally, late is late, whether it is one minute or one hour. Students not riding the bus who are not with their class by 8:20 are late for school. That means that children still walking in the door at 8:20 are late and marked accordingly. Think of arrival time as 8:15 and your child will never be marked late. 

Gifting Corner

Thank you to everyone who donated on Giving Tuesday!  It is because of generous families like yours that our students can benefit from enrichment programs like chess and gardening. We are grateful for your support.

If you haven’t had a chance to make your donation yet, there's still time to lock in that tax deduction! You need to postmark your check or make an online contribution by Monday December 31st. Just a quick note to remind you that any donation to the Family Giving Campaign is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Library News

In October we finished up our unit on books about music.  Some new words we learned were "composed" (two meanings), "ketzel" (Yiddish for cat), "maestro," and "debut."
 
This month we kicked off our Caldecott unit by reading a few prior winners including A Big Mooncake for Little Star (a favorite in every grade!), Kitten's First Full Moon, and Grandfather's Journey (for the older students), .  The Caldecott medal is awarded annually for the best illustrated book by an American illustrator.  We learned some new vocabulary to discuss illustrations and picture book texts.  Ask your children what a "full-bleed illustration" or a "double-page spread" or a "refrain" is!  
 
Now we have started reading books published in 2019 so we can vote for our favorites.  We compared A Big Bed for Little Snow to A Big Mooncake for Little Star, both by Grace Lin. There are many more to come.
 
You can find a complete list of prior Caledcott medal winners ("first place") and honorees ("second place") here: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal
 
Thanks to the parents who anonymously donated magazines!  We could use a few more, if anyone has old children's magazines lying around.
 
Happy Reading!
 
Rachel